You’ve probably noticed that Hunted begins on Channel 4 on Thursday and we’ll have a show discussion post set up for it in due course. We’re finding it quite difficult to get overly excited about, mainly because C4 have not done a great job is telling you what it actually is – the adverts made it look like a drama, but actually it’s a reality show, but it’s not entertainment like Wanted it seems more of a documentary than a competition. In theory it’s Very Much The Sort Of Thing We Like.
History in the US did something a little bit similar a few years ago albeit with a bit more emphasis on entertainment: Off the Grid – Million Dollar Manhunt. And you can watch it on Youtube look:
I’m not a fan of manhunt shows. Because there is no play along value for the viewer. And as long as a camera team is following the contestants they can be traced 24/7.
News from Germany! Our Quizonkel Jörg Pilawa will host a new border breaking show in October. It is called “Spiel für dein Land” (Play for your country) and it will mainly be played through an app. Every audience member from Austria, Swiss and Germany will play along to make their country win various quiz games and funny other games (though nothing has been shown yet so we might just see some simple multiple choice quiz as “quiz game” and variations of quiz as “funny other games”).
And what are the “contestants” playing for? 10 people from the winning country will be drawn randomly and win 5.000€ each. This will definitely disappoint people as the show will be broadcast on ARD, ORF and SRF on a sturday night so there will likely be about 6 million viewers watching. (If you compare it with Quizduell, about 8% of them will play along = 479.990 sad players in the end.)
I’m not sure what to think about it. I suppose the app could crash with that many viewers, which could be fun but also quiet annoying. If it will just be a normal quiz, this will definitely bore everyone, so I hope there will be little games.
You could say the best average result in a game will be a point for the winning country and the overall best will get something silly connected to the game. So if they would play Flappy Bird, the winner would be provided with free eggs for a year. That would make it more fun imho.
Will give Hunted a try – but I can’t be the only one around here who thinks they should have tried (and I know there are issues over format creation, and indeed the format of the live show element) and given Wanted another go? 3 reasons
1) Runner, Victoria Fay. Hello m’darlin.
2) It tried to make GPS positioning sexy, long before it was shouting instructions at you to do a U turn in 100 yards on your left
3)2 of the runners used the nearest phonebox to my senior school to cower in the 6th episode of the first series. They got caught (by Victoria co-incidentally) before the third commercial break.
Maybe it was the communications helicopter hovering directly overhead for a full 30 minutes before airtime that may have alerted/woken up the local MOTP’s to their presence.
Victoria Fay!